brandysexton

Thursday, September 14, 2017

This post is my plan. But, just like every other year, as we go through the year we realize what is really working and what really isn't and we cast the latter aside.

Zach's (age 1) school mainly consists of me learning some new finger plays, lap bouncing songs, and other ways to play with him (like the ones in This Little Piggy and Games Babies Play) and training him for blanket time and sitting on my lap better.

For Oliver (age 5) and Olivia (age 2 1/2) I am pulling from these resources:

As a family we are using The Family Bible Study Series for the Psalms and Proverbs. We all read the portion for one Psalm per week and get together to talk about it on Sunday night. We do one lesson from the Proverbs books as a family each night during Bible Time. We are also using lots of songs to help us learn the Psalms (Jamie Soles, Sons of Korah, and Seeds Family Worship) and trying to have more of a plan and focus for our family prayer time.

Saturday, June 24, 2017

Here are some helpful resources on the topic of modesty. All of these links were extremely helpful to me in thinking through this topic and would be especially wonderful in helping your daughters have a well rounded view of modesty.

Here is the first of a 4 part series that I appreciated. It's just the intro, but if you like to start at the beginning, here it is.

The second post in that series includes 8 terrific questions to ask yourself about modesty.

The third post in that series had some great original thoughts about modesty in worship. Do we aid others in worship or do we detract from it with our finery or by showing too much skin. Do we really want to steal attention that should be directed at God?

The last post focuses on how your fashion affects your worship and the worship of others and it asks hard questions about the nitty gritty.

Are you contributing to a culture of lust?
Wonderful thoughts about what our pictures say about us and how women
can unknowingly imitate the form of porn in the way they pose, use make
up, or photograph themselves.

The ones above were all by the same author, but this last one is from The Bible Project. We have loved devouring these videos!

1 Timothy tells women where their beauty should come from. The Bible Project video about 1 Timothy brings this to life and helps us see what was going on in the church that the letter is written to. In case you are short on time you can start at the 3 minute mark and see that some of the women were using church as a fashion show. Do you think that would distract from the worship of the Lord or bring him glory?

Monday, April 24, 2017

Thursday, July 07, 2016

We started school on the 4th of July. Yes, we started on a holiday! But I tried to make it festive and fun and we ended the day with ice cream and fireworks so they were happy. When Baby Zach is born in a few weeks we will take some time off.

This year Aiden is in 8th grade, Alex is in 7th grade, Riley is in 5th grade, Remy is in 3rd grade, Oliver is 4, and Olivia is 1 1/2. Here is a summary of what I'm using this year.

Sonlight Core E - Everyone
I used Sonlight for many years. I love a literature-rich curriculum. One year the core we were supposed to do next was a bit too advance for my boys so I did other things. It was a nice break and I had a lot of fun doing my own thing. The 2nd half of last year we came back to Sonlight and it was a great fit. I'm very excited about this year because it is American History (1850-present) and I look forward to learning about that time period! I'm also excited because I am having a baby this month or next and everything Sonlight related is laid out and scheduled for me. SO helpful! Because I'm a box checker, I really want to keep up the pace with the reading, and that keeps me motivated. This is the first time in a long time that I have used Sonlight's Bible assignments as well. So far we have really enjoyed that. This book is a part of the Bible assignments, and we have gotten a lot out of it.

Michael Clay Thompson Language Arts - Aiden, Alex, Riley, and Remy
I love this curriculum. Each level covers Grammar, Vocabulary, Writing, and Poetry, and has a Practice Book. It is fun, simple, and very rigorous without stressing anyone out! I now have Aiden & Alex in the same book and Riley & Remy in the same book. That cuts down on some of the one-on-one time and actually makes for some richer conversations. We also usually do the poetry part all together. We are wrapping up level 2 and should begin level 3 soon.

Reader/Widely Reader - Aiden, Alex, Riley, and Remy
I'm using Sonlight (3rd grade list, 4th grade list, and this list for my two older boys), Michael Clay Thompson Literature Trilogies, and other lists to come up with Readers for each boy at their level. The Readers are mostly classic literature and other fiction. Last year I created the "Widely Reader." I wanted them to read more non-fiction and so I made a spot to assign those books. We currently have rest time from (approx. :0) 1:00-2:00 and so they have time then to read 30 minutes from each book.

Copywork/Narration - Aiden, Alex, Riley, and Remy
I'm using Spelling Wisdom as copywork right now. It's designed to be used differently, but I liked the passages and I'm using it my own way. They narrate to me after they do their Reader and Widely Reader.

Greek - Aiden, Alex, Riley, and Remy
We are still quite happy with Hey, Andrew! Teach Me Some Greek!. You can use this even if you don't know any Greek, but it is really handy that my husband knows and loves the language! He does the grading for that.

Outside for 15 Minutes - Everyone
Ideally we are all outside for at least 15 minutes, but I must admit that sometimes I have the bigger kids take Oliver and Olivia out while I help another kid with some school. I need to get better about getting myself outside! The boys usually combine this with another subject and just do their school work outside.

Piano - Aiden, Alex, Riley, and Remy
Our 4 oldest are taking lessons. It's part of their daily school to practice.

Math - Aiden, Alex, Riley, and RemyMath-U-See continues to be a great fit for our family.

Auditory Processing - Riley
I got HELP for Auditory Processing at a used book sale. The mom said it was very helpful in her home and it seemed to be what I was looking for. It was in a package with these three books that I have not tried yet. Riley loves it and it's very easy to use. I may do this with my other kids later.

Type It - Aiden, Alex, and Riley
This is a very simple, no frills typing book, but the boys love it so far and are doing a great job increasing their typing skills.

The Art of Argument - Aiden and Alex
The boys have used some of the Bluedorn's Logic books/videos, but this is our first full year logic curriculum. So far they are liking it. Jeremy is doing this with them for now and it has sparked some really great conversations. I usually try to be in the same room so I can learn along with them. We also got the DVD's that go along with this, but we haven't begun using them yet.

Cooking Class - Aiden, Alex, Riley, Remy, and OliverKids Cook Real Food has been lots of fun so far! Highly recommended! We will likely do a lesson each Friday.

One Year Adventure Novel - Aiden
I'm really excited about this. Aiden loves to write all the time and devours books about writing. I have read numerous rave reviews about this program. I asked Aiden to look it over and he is very excited to begin it. I just ordered it, so he will be starting this in the next week or two.

Sonlight Preschool Core - Oliver and Olivia
I used this years ago with some of my older kids. I only have the books. I set them all out to help me have a plan for what to read and talk about with Oliver and Olivia. I have time with them from 8:30 to 9:00 every morning before beginning school with the older kids. Sometimes we go outside to swing, play ball, or do a crafty activity, but we always try to read some of these books as well.

Moving - Everyone
I don't have anything fancy for this category, but the boys usually just go downstairs and I put one boy in charge of PT while I put Olivia down for her morning nap. That person leads everyone in some exercises. They have a repertoire from when Jeremy used to do Army drills with them :0)

A few other odds and ends.
*We use this book for some chemistry experiments.
*I'm adding in artists from the time period we are covering. I'm using the things I got this year.
*Alex is doing this Bible Study.
*Aiden is getting ready to start this Bible Study.
*We are using this book as a family now for Bible time and totally loving it. It even has a coloring book that goes with it!
*Later this year we hope to cover this book. The one on the Old Testament was terrific.
*We still love our flipper system.
*I'm enjoying this planner so much!

Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Our 2nd day of summer break I realized that I needed a plan. Wide open days with 6 young kids quickly turn into chaos. Everyone forgets to do their chores. There are lots of random requests to do lots of projects. There is just a lot of time to fill with...well, I did not know what we were going to fill it with. I just wanted everyone to get a bit of a break before jumping back into school July 1st. I wanted some sleeping in, lying around, reading aloud, and hanging out.

So, here is my plan for our fun summer: Summer Flippers!

I'll go through them and explain a bit.

Before 10:00- During the school year this flipper says before 9:00. It refers to a list of things to be done by 9:00. But we are all sleeping a bit later in the summer so I moved the time. Things to be done by 10:00 include Reading Bible, Making Bed, Cleaning Body, Praying, Morning Chore, and Resetting Flippers.

Piano- We keep lessons going in the summer so they need to practice.

Outside 15 minutes- This is a minimum of course, but it's to make sure that no matter the weather, the kids are outside every day.

Greek Tues and Thurs- Taking the summer off of Greek would set them back a good bit. So we do it two days per week.

Read to a younger sibling for 15 minutes-self explanatory.

Read 30 minutes- I still want them making time to read during the summer. Most of them read a LOT more than this.

Fun Activity- This is something they come up with. We have tons of books with ideas for fun things. I just want them to make time to do something that they enjoy.

Watch Olivia for 20 minutes- This gives me EIGHTY minutes of time knowing that Olivia is safe and being loved on. This is in addition to a little bit of time in the pack and play with toys, and blanket time near me. This is really helpful because she likes to climb :0).

Jurisdiction 5:00 and Before Bed- This is a part of the house that this child is responsible for. They pick it up all the way at 5:00 and then do a quick pick up again just before bed.

Hug your Mom and Dad- This will be helpful for me. I can get so busy doing all the work around here, but I want to make sure to give them eye contact, and loving physical touch. Looking forward to this one!

Play with Marley- Marley is our dog and he needs some run around time with the boys. Making it a flipper ensures that they don't forget about him!

When I told the boys that I made some summer flippers they were happy and excited! I think they like feeling some control over their day and having some things to focus on.

*We work these in weekly or monthly.SCIENCE--Supercharged Science--I'm still figuring out how to schedule this the best way, but we have tons of terrific experiments to do, lots of videos online to watch, and lots of great info to read on the website.ART--Aiden Alex, and Riley are taking a drawing class and we also do art projects at home some and review flashcards from our Fine Arts year a while back.MUSIC--Aiden, Alex, Riley, and Remy are taking piano and we listen to tons of good music all the time, and have hymn sings at church.COOKING--It is a major priority of mine that my boys know how to cook by the time they leave my house and that I cook ahead as much as possible. So, it only makes sense that I would cook with the boys to get ahead! We will try to do this once a week in addition to my helper for the day helping me with cooking prep. We have also enjoyed watching these cooking classes.SERVICE--Raymond and Dorothy Moore describe education as a three legged stool. The three legs are book learning, work, and service. I love that model and here we look for ways to be hospitable or serve others in the church and/or community.GEOGRAPHY--I'm going to spend one month making sure that my kids have a comfortable knowledge of the continents and oceans and some major landmarks. I'll be using The Ultimate Geography and Timeline Guide and Geography Flashcards that you can buy here.FIELD TRIPS--We will shoot for one field trip per month. It's so nice to get out together and enjoy God's creation!

*Everyone does these on their own. MATH--We are using Math U See. We switched from Saxon at the end of last year and so far I've been really glad that we did. The kids are enjoying math a LOT more. It has been a bit complicated switching over. I tested each boy to see what level he should begin at. Then I backed up one level from their recommendation and then had them zip through and do one page of the lesson work per day instead taking a week and doing multiple pages. This way they could learn how he teaches (via DVD) and how he explains things and get used to the change at a level that they were comfortable at. It would also be great review. Now I am just watching their scores on math and if they start missing 1 or 2 then at that point I will slow down and help them get the info. If they are getting everything right the first try then I am still letting them move more quickly. I help them as needed, but the video of Steve Demme gets them started off right each week. I have been supplementing with Challenge Math, but I'm comparing that with Mathematical Reasoning and Beast Academy (at the recommendation of a Math Counts leader) to see if those might work better for us. Also, we are doing flashcards to make sure that their math facts are as normal as breathing :0).

COPYWORK--I write a new quote on the white board each morning. So far they have all been quotes about the Bible by famous people. It's been really fun finding these. Now I am moving into quotes about personal piety.

NARRATION--Each of them narrates to me by themselves in the laundry room after our read aloud time.

OUTSIDE FOR 15 MINUTES--This has been a great addition to our flippers! They can combine this with another subject by doing their work outside or they can just go play and have some recess. It's wonderful to get some fresh air! Even if it is raining they can just go out on our front porch. And, of course, they can stay out longer than 15 minutes.

PIANO--Our 4 big boys are taking piano so they each have to practice every day. We have a piano upstairs and a keyboard with headphones downstairs so that helps.

READERS--I used Ambleside Online to choose some of the books we already have as readers for the boys at their appropriate reading levels. I require them to read 30 minutes of their assigned book. After that they are free to read other stuff. I just told them this week that I might be changing the required reading to an hour. After all, I am picking awesome books for them to get into and they usually end up loving them! Some of the books are Michael Clay Thompson's Literature Trilogies. These are terrific! If have never heard of them...check them out!

*Aiden, Alex, and Riley are doing these things:

MICHAEL CLAY THOMPSON LANGUAGE ARTS--I finally took the plunge (after looking at it for about 5 years!) and bought this curriculum this year and I am so pleased! It begins in 3rd grade and covers Grammar, Writing, Vocabulary, Practice and Poetics. I just started Aiden, Alex, and Riley all on the first books and I am zipping through them with Aiden and Alex and taking it slower with Riley. I can't say enough about how accessible he makes grammar and vocabulary. He really boils it down and makes it so simple and thoroughly enjoyable! The vocabulary in this program is very advanced and the end goal is to be able to write an MLA style paper so the kids will be ready for college. This curriculum is a bit hard to explain, but do some research if you are interested. There is quite a buzz about it around the web!

GREEK--Aiden, Alex, and Riley are all using Hey Andrew Teach Me Some Greek. Jeremy did just find a curriculum that teaches Koine Greek by having them listen to it spoken. He has heard some rave reviews about it and so we might be switching over to that soon.

*Aiden and Alex are doing these things:

FRIDAY ESSAYS-- This year I am having Aiden and Alex do an essay for me (due each Friday) about current events. We get World Magazine and then we have a few sites that they can go to for research online. This is nothing fancy, but we are working up to more sophisticated writing.

I read picture books to him.
One fun activity every day.
Outside for 15 minutes every day.

~~~~~~~~~~

To recap a different way, I will list the flippers we use. These are small laminated cards that the kids and I flip over when we have completed the subject listed on the card. I absolutely love this system! The subjects listed here are fleshed out above.

Alex's Flippers--6th Grade:
Before 9:00
Math
Challenge Math
Spelling (I just take misspelled words from his essay and other work, have him study and copy them and then test him on them each Friday)
Copywork
Grammar Island (Michael Clay Thompson)
Narration
Greek
Reader
Piano
Outside 15 Minutes

*Current chores are: Aiden puts all the clean dishes away. Alex carries all dirty laundry downstairs and sorts it. Riley matches socks, puts them in people's bins, and carries all the clean dishtowels up to the kitchen. Remy takes out all the trash in the house (except for the two big kitchen trash cans).

At 8:00 we all stop working for a bit and come together to eat breakfast. After we are done everyone takes their own dishes to the sink and rinses them off. They put their cup (with a colored drink band on it) in the drainer by the sink to use throughout the day and their other dishes go in the left side of the sink (ready to go into the dishwasher).

At 8:30 Aiden and Riley finish cleaning up the kitchen (until the table is wiped off, counters are wiped off, things are loaded into the dishwasher or hand washed and the sink is empty). Aiden, Alex, Riley and Remy finish up anything left on their Before 9:00 and often get a few things crossed off of their school list.

Also at 8:30 I am spending time with Oliver and Olivia. We usually go to their room and play with plastic food or go out on the front porch and say the color of the cars that go by. Oliver loves having this time!

At 9:00 we all come together in our school room. I have a small pack n' play right by my desk and Olivia plays in there. Oliver has a seat at the half circle table that we use.

First, we sing lots of songs. We do a mixture of genres. We use preschool songs and Sunday School songs. Oliver loves that everyone sings his songs in a funny way with him and I love that it keeps the big kids from taking themselves too seriously. They get into it! We use Classical Conversations History Sentences. We use a variety of Scripture memory songs. We also chant grammar lists at this time (like a list of the prepositions). Lastly, we do poetry set to music. We were doing Hymns using this terrific book, but needed to cut some things out so now we do that at night during Bible time.

Second, we read the Bible popcorn style. This has been terrific. Oliver listens some, but I also get out play dough or some other little thing for him to play with or sort during this time.

About this time (9:45 or so) Olivia is tired of the pack and play and tired of sitting on my lap. It's nap time! I tell the boys to finish up and then sit quietly and wait for me to get back. I go and rock Olivia for just a couple of minutes and then put her down in her bed. The key here is to wait until she is quite tired so that she starts sucking her thumb and goes out quickly.

Third, we have a short prayer time. We made a prayer box with 3x5 cards in it. Each card has a prayer request or praise. I hand 1 car to each person and we pray for these things. Even Oliver does it. I just tell him what to say. Then we put those cards at the back and write down any new requests. We also have a book of answered prayers. We just jot answered prayers in there as a reminder to us of how the Lord has heard our prayers!

At this point (around 10:10) I take Oliver to my bedroom and put him on my bed with lots of picture books. This is his time to play by himself for about 20 minutes. This is a skill that he needs and it really helps me to be able to give my undivided attention to the lesson I'm about to share. When I get back to my big boys I often tell them to stretch their arms and do Simon Says type movements with their arms while they are sitting in their seats. It's funny and we get some wiggles out.

Fourth, we study the Bible. This year we are learning Bible history for our history. After all, the Bible IS history! I am using an amazing resource called The Old Testament Made Simple by Melton Short. We read through the simple material and work together to commit the outlines of the OT to memory. It is very user friendly and the kids are really enjoying it.

Now it is about 10:30 (all times are very much estimates!). We head downstairs and I give each boy a coffee filter with animal crackers or graham crackers and some bottled water. These snacks are always handy and ready to go. Two boys share a bottle of water so it's not much of an expense. They sit and eat their snack in a circle while I read something about history or science (like this). Then they can play quietly with K'Nex (or some other building toy) or cuddle up with blankets while I read from a fun fiction read aloud book. So there are two phases to this read aloud time: the first focused for content and the second laid back for some fun reading. After we finish I take one kid at a time into the laundry room and they narrate one or both of the books I just read. Sometimes I sort/fold laundry during this time, but often I try to look them straight in the eye and give them my undivided attention. That is very helpful when trying to make sure they feel loved on (see How To Really Love Your Child).

At about 11:30 Olivia is usually waking up so I go and nurse her. Then I get to fixing lunch. While I am doing that Olivia is in the highchair snacking, Oliver is running around being cute, and the 4 big boys are working on any other bits of school that they can cross off on their own.

12:00 lunch time. Then Alex and Remy clean up the kitchen. This routine has been harder to get to stick because people are often going different ways working on school stuff around lunch time. There is not as clear of a beginning and ending so sometimes I have to call people back to clean up their mess. When they are done they get back to school and I am usually able to help a kid or two with some of the subjects that they need me to sit down and do with them.

1:00 (or 1:30) Rest time. I put Oliver in his toddler bed, and Olivia in her crib right next to each other. They each have a couple of pieces of play food and they just chat and then go off to sleep. When this started working for me it was SO helpful! My 4 big boys are on their beds during this hour. They can "Read, Sleep, Think, or Pray." They all have to read a certain amount for school so many of them do that during this time. I really try to have this time by myself. It makes me a much better mom in the afternoon if I can have some downtime. I also try not to be on the computer or phone. Ideally I am doing one of the options that the boys have "Read, Sleep, Think, or Pray."

2:00 I get my big 4 up and take turns helping them with whatever they need while Oliver and Olivia are still sleeping.

3:00 It would be nice if we were done by now, but we usually aren't :0). We have only been at this for a few weeks though so hopefully we will get better. But I would much rather get done at 4:30 and have some rest and fun built into the day than to get done at 3:00 and miss out on those aspects.

A few random notes.

I keep meaning to get a bit more organized about the big kids playing individually with Oliver or Olivia at certain times. However, I think the more relaxed way we have been doing it is working fine. If I need help with one of them I just ask one child to go and play with one of them. Even though my kids are on a general schedule you just can't predict when a 10 month old or a 3 year old are going to need a bit more attention!

Sometimes I will ask an older child to help a younger one with his math.

I have a little wheel with the first 5 kids names on it. Every day I rotate it so that a new child's name is lined up with "TODAY!". That day that child is the one that I ask to help me cook, or I focus on a little bit extra. That child gets to do his school stuff with me first. That child is the one I make sure to focus on in other areas besides just school.

After school they are pretty free unless I need them to do a random chore and then I just ask.

We eat at 6:00 (if it's ready by 6:00 Ha!). After dinner all the boys clean up together. Sometimes Jeremy and I pitch in and other times we are getting Oliver and Olivia ready for bed. Then the boys get ready for bed and we gather downstairs for Bible Time. Right now we alternate between Seeds Family Worship DVD's with hand motions, Then Sings My Soul (read 1 page about background of hymn and then we sing it), and Sunday School type songs. We are reading out of The Child's Story Bible by Catherine Vos. Sometimes we will recap for Daddy the things that we learned from The Old Testament Made Simple. We also chase many rabbit trails if they come up and answer lots of questions. Then we have prayer time and the boys head off to bed. If Oliver or Olivia get too tired before we are done then I just take them up and get them settled in.

Well, that is the outline of our day. It has been so encouraging to me to have a general flow that I can count on. Of course, no two days are ever the same, but we can usually figure out what comes next since we have been creating a pattern.

Next I will post lots of links to the actual curriculum that I am using this year. I just love all this school stuff!

Saturday, July 11, 2015

I was just referring back to this blog to find info about what I had used for school in the past and I thought it might be time for an update.

The biggest change since my last post is that we have a daughter! She is so much fun! It is funny how early you can see her little girl personality come out.

My boys have gotten so much bigger too. It is a real joy to have older kids! The conversations are really interesting and they are a huge blessing to me in so many ways. Parenting does get more complicated as they need help thinking through deeper issues. I'm very thankful for the Lord's guidance as we seek to give these kids wise counsel!

I am having lots of fun nailing down what we will use for school this year. I hope to get a post up soon listing my plan. That way I can look back here in the future and see it all laid out so nicely :0). I always mean to do a post later in the year telling what really happened, but I guess I get too busy living life and chasing kids and I forget to actually write the post!

Monday, March 10, 2014

16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. 18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

This jumped right off the page at me this morning. I got to "disorder and every vile practice" and thought, "What did that verse just say leads to disorder and vile practices?" When I saw selfish ambition was part of the cause it made sense. I can get selfish in my ambitions during the day with my children and that often leads to disorder!

But the last two verses gave me something to shoot for. I want that wisdom from above. The kind that is...

pure
peaceable
gentle
open to reason
full of mercy and good fruits
impartial
sincere

And James 1:5 says that if I lack wisdom and ask God to give it to me, He will do it!